


Fare (지내다)

by via_ostiense



Series: Tennis no Ojisama 45 [6]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-08-19
Updated: 2004-08-19
Packaged: 2017-10-17 01:01:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/via_ostiense/pseuds/via_ostiense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows that the Golden Pair is forever. Everyone knows that when upperclassman Kikumaru can defeat vice-captain Oishi, he won’t play doubles anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fare (지내다)

“Hey! Oishi-senpai, there you are! What’re you doing here?”  
  
“M-Momo? What’re you doing here?”  
  
“Fuji-senpai said you’d probably be here. C’mon, everyone’s partying at Kawamura-senpai’s place, you’re the only one who’s missing.”  
  
“Partying? Eiji, too, I bet.”  
  
“Well, yeah. Let’s go!”  
  
“I’m not going.”  
  
“What? Why not?”  
  
“I don’t want to. I’m not going to.”  
  
“Oishi-senpai! It’s your graduation! You should be celebrating with the rest of us, not hiding by yourself in Zen. Now get up or I’ll drag you there. C’mon!”  
  
“Momo, let go of me! I’m not going!”  
  
“That hurt, Oishi-senpai.”  
  
“Sorry. But I’m still not going.”  
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
“Nothing.”  
  
“Really.”  
  
“Nothing.”  
  
“That’s the first time I’ve heard you lie, Oishi-senpai.”  
  
“Not lying.”  
  
“You’re just sitting alone in a dingy bar glugging sake on your graduation for no reason?”  
  
“Yeah—hey! Hey! Give that back!”  
  
“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”  
  
“Nothing!”  
  
“Give it back!”  
  
“I’m not going to give it back until you spill.”  
  
“Eiji.”  
  
“Eiji-senpai’s what’s wrong?”  
  
“Yeah. Now give me back my drink!”  
  
“No! Explain to me what’s wrong. You’ve had too much to drink anyway, senpai.”  
  
“I’m not going to Seishun University.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I’m going to Tokyo University to study medicine.”  
  
“So?”  
  
“I didn’t tell Eiji.”  
  
“What’d you say? I couldn’t hear that.”  
  
“I didn’t tell Eiji.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“I DIDN’T TELL EIJI.”  
  
“What? Why not?”  
  
“I didn’t want to upset him.”  
  
“So...you let him think you were going to Seishun with him and Fuji-senpai and Inui-senpai instead?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
“So what happened?”  
  
“I told him this morning.”  
  
“And?”  
  
“He challenged me to a match.”  
  
“A match?”  
  
“He said that if I was going away, then I was leaving him behind and that I didn’t care about him or about us and that’s not true! I care about Eiji! He’s my best friend, we’ve been best friends since elementary school, we’ve always been together, how could he say that? How could he ever think I didn’t care?”  
  
“So he challenged you to a match?”  
  
“Yeah. Singles, the best of one set match, service play Seishun High’s Kikumaru. Fuji refereed. 6 – 4, Kikumaru.”  
  
“What the hell does tennis have to do with anything?”  
  
“Don’t you know? Everyone knows. Even Horio, who has six years’ tennis experience, knows.”  
  
“Knows what?”  
  
“Why Eiji plays doubles.”  
  
“He’ll play doubles until he can beat you, right, everyone knows that.”  
  
“So you do know.”  
  
“Know what? This isn’t making any sense, Oishi!”  
  
“Eiji’s a better singles player than I am, isn’t he, Momo?”  
  
“I don’t know, I mean, you guys always play doubles together. What does this have to do with anything?”  
  
“He’s been better than me for a while...but we work together as a doubles team. We’re a pair, Momo, a pair, the Golden Pair. Yeah, we’re the Golden Pair...gold means forever, doesn’t it, Momo? That’s why people wear gold rings when they get married, to show they’ll be together forever.”  
  
“Oishi-senpai, you’re drunk. Now, let’s go to Kawamura-senpai’s place and you can sober up there.”  
  
“I’m not going. Haven’t you been listening to me?”  
  
“Yeah, I’ve been listening.”  
  
“Eiji beat me this morning. We played a match before the graduation ceremony started, did I tell you that? He beat me 6 – 4.”  
  
“Yes, you told me, Oishi. Now, let’s go before I drag you there whether you like it or not.”  
  
“I can’t go! Eiji beat me.”  
  
“What does tennis have to do with anything? So Eiji-senpai beat you this morning. What the hell does that matter? You’re not going to play tennis once you go to university, so it’s not like he’s threatening to quit playing doubles with you or anything!”  
  
“He’s not playing doubles with me.”  
  
“Oishi-senpai, if you don’t explain things to me very clearly, I’m going to punch you.”  
  
“Eiji said...Eiji said...Eiji said that I’d lied to him for half a year, letting him think that we were going to go to Seishun University together, that we’d keep playing tennis together. So he challenged me to a singles match, and he said that he’d win.”  
  
“And he did.”  
  
“And he did. Don’t you get it, Momo? The Golden Pair is over. It’s  _over_. Eiji beat me and after the match he said that we were finished with each other. He said he could’ve beaten me any time since we started playing for Seishun Gakuen but he never challenged me because he didn’t want to play singles anymore after we became the Golden Pair. It's true, you know, he's better at singles than I am. He said he thought I was his best friend and that the Golden Pair was about more than just tennis. He said he never wanted to see me again, he said that I’d been lying for half a year and that I was leaving him and I didn’t care about him and that’s not true! It’s not true! I care about Eiji more than anyone else! He’s not just my doubles partner, he’s my best friend and he said he’ll never forgive me for leaving him...”  
  
“Oh. Oishi-senpai...Oishi-senpai...please don’t cry. Um, here.”  
  
“Th-thanks. Eiji... ’S not true! I swear!”  
  
“C’mon, Oishi-senpai. Let’s go.”  
  
“I’m not going to Taka-san’s! I’m not! Ei-Eiji’s there and he said n-never wants to s-see me again...Eiji...”  
  
“We’re not going to Kawamura-senpai’s place, Oishi.”  
  
“Eiji...”  
  
“You need to talk to Eiji-senpai—”  
  
“No! Eiji said he’s never going to speak to me again, I can’t go see him!”  
  
“—but that can wait until tomorrow. C’mon, I’ll take you home. We’ll clean you up and you can spend the night at my place, okay?”  
  
“Eiji...”  
  
“C’mon, Oishi-senpai.”


End file.
